Exploring Mexico: San Luis Potosi

As a relatively well-traveled American, there’s a major lack of depth on my travel CV that I still find is almost impossible to reconcile: Mexico. I’ve visited once, my first summer back from living in Asia, teaming up with a good friend from college to visit two Mexican fraternity brothers who were home for the summer. And yet, those experiences and connections leave a stronger impression than other places and countries and people where I’ve spent far more time.

This is not the stuff of luxury Mexico vacations, but rather of history and culture and bull fights and street fights and a more than advisable amount of tequila and mezcal. And the center of it all is San Luis Potosi, a close friend and his family, and the significance of personal connections and the impression they leave while traveling.

Though there are any number of touristy things to do in San Luis Potosi, a beautiful old town and plenty of interesting food and art and people and culture. I found and find it notable primarily for one reason: Oscar.

Fraternity brother, tequila lover, dancing dervish, though with admittedly poor taste in soccer teams. The man is many things, but one of them is undoubtedly true above the others in this context: incredible host.

Having just finished traveling with college friend Jenny and two other fraternity brothers for several weeks in Indonesia and Malaysia, idle tourism was no strange thing. San Luis Potosi has plenty of it, and Oscar was more than happy to show us around.

Catholic cathedrals and Old Town architecture. A prison-turned-art center, home to art and creation atop a layer of older pain. Days at Oscar’s health club, ordering Cerveza Victoria by the pool. Museums, theaters, and even more churches. The San Luis Gladiadores, whoI don’t even remember whether they won or lost the match but know for certain that jersey remains hanging well-used in a closet somewhere in Asia or North America.

To end the trip, as one might in Mexico, we went to the local weekend bull fights. It’s something straight out of books set in Mexico – and every bit as real and as brutal but also as culturally significant.

Far more memorable than any moment of tourism and sightseeing however, particularly all these years later, is family and friendship. Connections on the ground while traveling, more than anything, reinforce the importance and beauty of travel. These connections can pop up anywhere, and often do so unexpectedly, but are even sweeter when they cement existing friendships.

This, more than anything, defines my memories of San Luis Potosi. Evenings at Oscar’s family’s house, eating incredible homemade mole (that I’ve still never found a better version of, despite trying as often as possible). Picnicking with the extended family, being embarrassed by Oscar’s entire extended family’s soccer skills (far more impressive than my own rusty attempts, in memory), going out with local friends to San Luis Potosi’s bars and clubs (the song Papa Americano still reminds me of Mexico all these many years alter) and dancing to roaming mariachi bands in the late-night streets.

Even seeing Oscar’s dad’s video speeches in an interactive display in the regional Science Museum – something of a local celebrity, perhaps, or at the very least a local science expert willing and able to pass on knowledge to the rest of the city.

Simple moments, to be sure, and more akin to daily life all around the world than to the ‘transformative travel experiences’ of Instagram and Snapchat. And yet. Aren’t these the moments we treasure the most from travel anywhere in the world? The personal connections who leave impressions that last long after the viewpoints and the meals have all faded far into memory (indeed, I would meet up with Oscar in Budapest several years later to pick up the thread of a friendship that spans years and continents and several distinct versions of each of our selves).

Travel, like life, is best experienced not as a ‘bucket list’ of places to be ticked off along the way but rather as a continuum of contact, a constant evaluation and reevaluation of our relationship with the world around us. I’m sure we all fail at this sometimes – I certainly am guilty, particularly on work-based travels that become a literal checklist of things to see and do – but even just keeping the idea to heart can help to make stronger relationships with the people and places around us as we travel.

In truth, the entirety of my experience of Mexico is founded on moments like these, traveling with Oscar and Gerry and Jenny and Ines across the country in a succession of small but important moments that still stand out years later. Wandering the streets of Zacatecas for a day, being accosted by a rooftop Satan and dancing till midnight in a street parade behind a military band. More dancing in Guanajuato, plus some campus exploration and more impromptu mariachi fun. Even feeling a little heartbroken and a little betrayed in the university town of Puebla.

I can think of no better way to visit the country, in fact. So perhaps it isn’t such a travel oversight after all. Perhaps it’s just another of those countries waiting for a return visit until the moment is right, the proper people are along, and there’s at least a hint of a chance that the return trip can match the experience of the original.

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